Israeli Educational System Conference

In October, I attended the Israeli Educational System Conference keynote. Jack Pastor presented this keynote. He is the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Oranim Academic College in Israel. He gave us the history of Israel including when educational acts were put in place. He then explained the problems with the educational system in Israel.

In 1948, the state of Israel was established. In just one year, the law of compulsory education was recognized. Four years later, the National Education Act was passed. There were many problems with the education in Israel. The most important of these, I think, was “The Bagrut”. This is a set of sixteen matriculation exams. These exams cause teachers to teach to the test. It also deters the teachers from originality. On top of these problems, only 48% of students pass the exam. Of the 48%, 15% will not be accepted to higher education. Although there are all of these problems with the exam, nobody wants to cancel it. Because of these exams throughout the education of students, nobody wants to become a teacher. Most teachers are teaching as their second career (after they retire from their first career). At the end of the keynote, Jack Pastor explained that there is a new minister of education who has an agenda. He wants to rework “The Bagrut” system.

I was very surprised when hearing about the educational system in Israel. I thought that New England was bad with all of the NECAP testing, but after hearing about Israel, we have it pretty good. The amount of testing there is way too much. They need to cut it back. It is hurting the students’ learning, the teachers’ teaching, as well as the students’ post high school lives. I am glad that the new minister is planning to improve the testing system. I hope that he is able to implement his ideas for the sake of the future leaders of Israel.

From going to this keynote, I was able to put into perspective that we are over-testing our students. We cannot continue to torture our students with all of the testing. I am certain that we need to drop some of the testing of our students.

Observation #4

1) What do you think the objective is?

The students will solve one-step linear equations using tables and algebra tiles.

2) What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is that?

Comprehension

3) How will you assess it in 10 minutes or less?

Name: ____________    Date: ________

Solving One-Step Linear Equations Quiz

Solve:

1.     y - 3 = 6                  

Answer: y = 9

2.     3x = 12   

Answer: x = 4

Multiple Choice:

3.      Pick what we need to add to the following equation to get y by itself? (Circle your answer) 

         y + 4 = 5

         

a.)    4            b.) -4           c.)    5          d.)    -5

Answer: B

Observation #3

         I observed a geometry class during the lunch period. I assumed it wasn’t going to be the best class to observe due to the fact that it was lunch block, but I was hoping that it would give me a good sense of some management skills. As the students entered the classroom, the teacher told them that they had to sit in their newly assigned seats that she assigned the previous day. About half of them listened to her. Those that did sit in their seats were given their folder with their materials and worksheets in it. There was a Do Now on the board and as they were going over the Do Now the teacher realized that one of her students had a portable Wi-Fi connector that she was using to play games on her phone. The teacher called the administration down to the room and took the girl with them as they left. The girl did not come back until later and I assumed that they took her Wi-Fi away when she came back. The students were learning about proofs of triangles and were given a handout on how to do it after walking through an example on the SMART board together as a class. Nobody was really doing the proof on the handout. Throughout the entire class one student in particular was making it extremely difficult for the teacher. He would give her attitude, talk with his neighbors instead of doing his work (which in turn made them not pay attention), and even stormed out of the classroom after claiming that the teacher “touched him” and he had to go “clean up”.

The teacher of this class was having a hard time taking control of her students and not allowing them to push her around. Throughout the entire class, she was making a detention list and continually adding to it, but it seemed to have no effect on the students. If I were to guess why this didn’t work, I would assume she does not enforce the detention list.

I believe that this teacher had poor classroom management skills. She wasn’t as consistent as she could be to her own rules and everyone in her class knew it. I felt bad for the teacher because she seemed to be a really nice person, but I believe that may have just been another reason the students knew that they could get away with that stuff. I know that this class was probably a very low preforming class and that probably had something to do with their misbehaviors. It didn’t help that the teacher didn’t take the time to try to do something other than direct instruction with them.  I think that if she allowed them to move around and do some hands on activities, the class would have preformed a lot better.

I feel bad for those students that were in the class who were trying to do their work. They were trying to understand the material and couldn’t due to all of the other students misbehaving. Those students are really affected in a negative way and they did nothing to deserve being in that class with those misbehaved students. If the teacher had better management skills, she could have eliminated a lot of the problems in the class and some learning could have actually occurred. I think in particular this teacher does the same thing every day in class and the students are bored. She needs to find some training in some different approaches to teaching as well as some classroom management skills. Overall, this class was not conductive to student learning.

Microteaching 2

Microteaching #2 done. Glad that it all worked out. Feel free to leave me some comments on how I did! I really appreciate it!

Thanks,
Tiffany

Oberservation #1 at Mount Pleasant Story

I arrived at the school for 8:15 and nervously began to look for the main entrance. I had my boyfriend drive me because I heard that you had to parallel park and that made me very anxious.  As I entered the high school, I looked around. The school felt like it was very dreary, but that was due more to the architecture of the building than anything else. I believe that others felt that way because as I continued to walk through the school there were posters every few feet. The posters were colorful and motivational. I felt that they made very good use of the walls by hanging those posters.

After I had signed into the visitor’s log, and was given a visitor’s pass, I was told to go find the math department head. I was very nervous walking through the school since I am young and I felt that people would think I was a student rather than a soon-to-be teacher. Not only that, but the teacher told me to just drop by anytime and she would set me up with someone to observe. I approached the department head and was immediately relieved when she remembered my name from the email I had sent her. She had set me up with an Algebra II class to observe.

I walked into the classroom and as I looked around, I saw many handmade posters. The desks were arranged in rows. Overall, I felt that the classroom was homey, however I noticed that the clock didn’t work. I knew that if I had to be in that classroom all day I would be irritated since I look at the clock every three minutes or so. I decided to take note of the people around me. In total, there were twelve students, as well as the teacher, and myself. I noticed that it was a diverse classroom: about half of the students were African America, while the other half were Caucasian.
     Today, the class was learning about quadratic equations. Yesterday was the first day of their lesson, and five of the twelve students were absent yesterday. I’m not sure if this was the reason, but the entire period was a recap of what they went over yesterday. This caused those students who were here yesterday to be bored since the teacher had to spend most of her time teaching to those students who weren’t there yesterday. I looked at the agenda for today written on the board and noticed that we were supposed to review quadratics, do more quadratic problems, and then focus on real world problems involving quadratics. There was one student in the middle of the classroom who was answering most, if not all of the teacher’s questions throughout the period. However, the rest of the class was not paying attention at all. After printing the notes for those students who weren’t there yesterday, the teacher reviewed what they did in class on the SMART board. I found that this teacher did most, if not all of her teaching while incorporating the SMART board. After she did one example on the board to walk the students through the steps of solving a quadratic equation, the students still didn’t quite get it. She then walked them through another example. She referenced the previous example throughout her second example, which I think helped the students a lot. After she finished guiding the students through those examples, she had the students do two problems on the own. Those who had finished both problems first were able to go write their answers and steps on how they solved the equation on the SMART board. At the end of the period, the teacher reviewed what was for homework (which was actually last night’s homework that nobody did).

     At the end of the period, I found that we had never gotten to the last part of the agenda. We never got to solve any real world problems. The entire period, which was an hour and a half, was spent going over yesterday’s lesson. After the students left, I was able to talk to the teacher for a few minutes. I was told that this algebra class was a very low class and that most of the students had behavioral issues. I found this to be very evident since throughout the period, students were playing games on their phones, playing with a ball, and watching YouTube videos. After leaving the school, and explaining a play-by-play to my boyfriend, I realized how quickly your lessons could change in an instant due to issues like students not doing their homework, or too many absent students. The teacher’s entire lesson was out the window the minute the students walked into the room. I also came to the realization that this doesn’t just hurt your lesson, but it hurts the students who were here yesterday, did do their homework, and those students who had to sit through your lesson all over again. There was no differentiation in the classroom, causing many students to seem as though they have lack of interest. Many students were sitting with their heads down on the desk for whatever reason. Was it because they were bored? Did they have a bad night last night? Did they not sleep well? How can you tell what the issue is if you are too busy trying to teach those students who weren’t here yesterday, those that happened to be participating in class during that period?

     Overall, I learned a lot from watching the Algebra II class. I learned that you can use a SMART board throughout your lesson (which the students enjoy as much as you do because they can write on it). I learned that you should always have a backup plan for your lesson (because your lesson can change in the blink of an eye). And finally, I learned that I can do this: I can be the teacher.  This was a great experience to have and I’m glad that I was able to be a part of it.

Observation Assignment #2 at Mount Pleasant High School

Lesson Plan Template for SED 406 and 407 part 1 = planning
Teacher Candidate: Ms. Math	Subject: Algebra 1	Grade(s): 9
Name of Lesson: Solving One-Step Linear Equations
Learning Objective(s), including Bloom's taxonomic level: (label A, B, C, *D) *optional The students will review writing linear equations using tables and algebra tiles.
Student Standards (GSE or/GLE or Common Core-in draft for math/science- list which): CCSS.Math.Content.HSA-SSE.A.1a Interpret parts of an expression, such as terms, factors, and coefficients. CCSS.Math.Content.HSA-REI.B.3 Solve linear equations and inequalities in one variable, including equations with coefficients represented by letters.
Teacher Standards (professional society and/or NETS  and RIPTS-list which): Standard 2: Teachers have a deep content knowledge base sufficient to create learning experiences that reflect an understanding of central concepts, vocabulary, structures, and tools of inquiry of the disciplines/content areas they teach. Standard 4: Teachers create instructional opportunities that reflect a respect for the diversity of learners and an understanding of how students differ in their approaches to learning.
Rationale: Why this lesson? How does it fit into the curriculum and context? Is this the introduction, conclusion, or somewhere in the middle of the unit of instruction? The lesson will help students visualize what it means to solve an equation and then relate it to solving equations without the use of algebra tiles. This fits into the introduction of teaching students how to solve linear equations algebraically.
Materials/Resources needed, including technology: Algebra Tiles, SMART board
Accommodations and Modifications (special needs and learning styles) For example:  Dr. Kraus has poor vision and needs written material to be at least 12 pt. font.  He also reads two grade levels higher and needs appropriate reading material.  I didn’t see any accommodations, however if there was a colorblind student there could be a set of algebra tiles that were black and white.
What content resources support this knowledge base? (list at least 2) Virtual manipulatives: http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3482 http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/mathematics/ebook_assets/vmf/VMF-Interface.html
How confident are you in this topic as you start this lesson? Ms. Math seems very confident at the start of the lesson.

(Boxes expand as you type)   Lesson Plan Template part 2 = action
Bell-ringer: How will you get students seated, and ready for academic work? (without your voice) Do now
Anticipatory Set: How will you introduce the material, interest the students, show relevance of topic? Do now
Phase (change as needed)/Time	Teacher action	Student action	Questions/Assessments
e.g. Intro/5 min.	Take attendance. Get algebra tiles ready/make sure every student has their own set of algebra tiles.	Do now: Simplify expressions like 2+(-1), 3*(-1), -3*(-1), 2-(-1)
Presentation or Open-ended/	Walk around to help those who need it.	Work in groups to solve one step linear equations using algebra tiles.	How did you get that answer?
Guided Practice or Convergent/	On the SMART board, show how to solve one-step equations without the use of algebra tiles.	Follow along.
	Walk around to help those who need it.	Finish the worksheet algebraically (without use of algebra tiles).	What do we need to add to this side to get y by itself?
Closing/	Write exit ticket on the whiteboard/ help students with exit ticket if they need it.	Complete exit ticket.
HW/Application/	No homework.
Review and Reflection: How will you review for students who are still having trouble? Go over more examples on SMART board for students still having trouble.
Extension: What will you offer to students who have mastered this? Students who finish early can move on to do the algebraic method of solving equations.
*Closing: How will you review the material, and draw conclusions? (may be listed above) Exit ticket

	Lesson Plan Template pt. 3 = reflection
WHAT?	What went well?   The students seem to really understand how to solve linear equations algebraically.
	What area of weakness needs addressing? The students had a bit of trouble using the algebra tiles.
	Which objectives were met? What is the evidence? The students met the objective to solve linear equations using algebra tiles. This was evident because they were able to answer the questions on the worksheet using algebra tiles.
	Which students did not meet objectives? Those that decided to not use the algebra tiles, and just copied off of others did not meet the objectives.
	Was time managed appropriately? Yes.
	Did any teacher mannerisms or actions detract from the lesson? The teacher went over how to use the algebra tiles on the SMART board, and kids were supposed to follow along, however that wasn’t really happening.
	*What were the strengths and weaknesses of classroom management? The teacher did not notice that one of the students was copying off of another the entire class period.
SO WHAT?	Was the lesson engaging? I believe the lesson was engaging.
	*What did I learn from my peer observation (address at least one aspect)   N/A
NOW WHAT?	How will this experience influence your professional identity?  I now know how to teach using algebra tiles, and I know how to use both algebra tiles and algebra itself to teach students how to solve linear equations.
	How will it influence how you plan/teach/assess in the future? I have to be sure to pay attention to all of the students and try to notice if a student actually understands the material, or if they had just copied all of the work from another student.